The Flying Dreams

CHAPTER SIX

Shifa's apartment was actually nice and a lot more spacious than I thought it would be. Wahab had complained about his apartment, and I assumed hers would be the same.

She was explaining how the rooming was supposed to work. There were two rooms— the one she had cleaned up for me was used as her playroom or something, I didn't understand what she meant by that but not to annoy her, I nodded and acted as I understood but she squinted her eyes at me and I had to look away.

'I'm not talking about that playroom, you know. I had my game setup there and books and just used this room to chill.'

She had a lot of similarities with Wahab, and it was noticeable. I hadn't spent much time with her but the way she talked with a teasing smile always beneath the words was something I was used to with Wahab. The way she just had to repeat herself twice and each time with a different tone. The truth was— I had no idea what she was going on about and I wanted to tell her to relax. I was going to spend a week in there before my classes started— I would have plenty of time to roam around her apartment. She seemed more nervous than I was, and she lived there— it was her place. She was messy too. The first thing she had done when I entered through the doors was pick up her stuff from random places and then throwing them in some other random place. What was the point? She picked her pyjama shorts from underneath the sofa cushion. She seemed embarrassed about it, I pretended not to see. Another thing, her attitude had changed since the moment we stepped in, she asked if I wanted some help with my bags, I just gave her a long look. She was just getting the reality of the situation and I found it amusing. Another person was going to invade her personal space and she was not ready, at least she didn't seem ready to me.

'So... need help unpacking?'

'No, thank you.' I had the sudden urge to say I didn't like that so but just, as usual, didn't.

She nodded and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, told me to make myself at home and closed the door of her room.

In the evening, around six, there was a loud knock and I sat up straight. I had done the unpacking and kept things in their places, texted Wahab about it then I had nothing else to, so I decided to rest for a bit before heading out to the kitchen and cook something for the both of us. The knock startled me and as much as I wanted to stay put in my room, I listened.

Shifa's friend was there, and I heard laughing. It was a boy. Then before I could register what was happening, there was too much commotion. Loud laughing and the music was turned on soon. I tried to count how many people were outside, but it was not possible. They were talking over each other and then laughing again. I heard. I heard for some time, and I felt the sides of my forehead throbbing. I hated the loudness. And I hated how she thought nothing about the new company, and I wished I was back at home, in my own room. She didn't owe me anything and after she agreed to let me stay in her apartment with her, I should be grateful but a huge part of me was judging her. She obviously had no regard for that one person who was stuck in her other spare room, playroom, as she called it. She didn't even ask me or informed me beforehand and I hated it. It was common sense, and she should have the decency to at least tell me to cover up my ears. And then I lied down on the bed. I knew I couldn't blame her at all, it was her place, and she had the right to burn it down if she wanted to but the pain in my head won't go away and I needed some excuse to cry my eyes out. I didn't even know why I wanted to cry but for some weird reason I did, and I missed my daily schedule back in my home and not even a single day had passed. A few minutes past seven, I would have been preparing for dinner at home not lying down with a horrible headache.

Then suddenly the door was opened as Shifa came into my view with a wide smile on her face; with her came the loud sound of music. She held a plate, 'I brought you some kebabs. Hope you're hungry.'

I was starving but seeing her holding the food made me shake my head, 'No, thank you.'

'Uh. Okay. If you want to eat, you're welcome to come outside. I'll introduce you to my friends.'

I smiled at her. If she wanted to introduce me to her friends, she would have called me before and did that instead of making me extremely uncomfortable with the sudden bash. On my first day away from home. She made it very clear that she didn't really want me there and for a millisecond I was embarrassed. I felt like an intruder, which I was, of course, and I blamed it on my father for deciding without consulting me but then the embarrassment turned into tears the moment she closed the door behind her. This time I had no valid reason to cry but I couldn't stop the tears. They flowed and I sat there having no idea how to stop them.

That night I slept with a hungry stomach and a sticky face.

The morning was much better. I woke up at 5 and prayed, went to the kitchen with a low expectation of it being clean because of last night but the living area was clean, and the kitchen counter was looking almost untouched. That was a surprise. Shifa wasn't awake and it gave me the perfect excuse to make breakfast. I was trying to get on her good side and to achieve this— I knew I needed to cook for her. There was no way she would not want me in her home after a meal made by me. I took pride in my cooking skills, and I was used to using this as the bait. But after looking through her kitchen, I gave up.

There was absolutely nothing. Just a few packets of Maggi noodles and frozen snacks. I found salt, pepper and onions in the drawer and that was all about it. Not even tea leaves or coffee beans. I was beyond frustrated, in other words, I wanted to hit my head against a wall. I sat on the sofa for hours, just waiting for Shifa to show up. She had a weird schedule— so unlike mine. She came out of her room at 9, ignored my presence and walked into the kitchen— drank one glass of water and went back to her room. For several moments I was perplexed by such behaviour. First off, who wakes up so late? That made me realize she mustn't have her morning prayer. I wasn't against the friend gathering but I was so against her missing her prayer because she woke up late. My thought was to rat her out to Wahab, he'd talk to her about it since I didn't know her all that much, but he did. The horrible thought vanished after she invited me to go out with her for breakfast.

'I usually go out to eat, so I'm sorry for the lack of stuff in the kitchen.'

I even felt terrible to have the thought of ratting her out.

'No problem but can we please grab some groceries? I like to cook.'

Shifa was happy to hear me say that. I might have given her a weird look for that but nothing verbal was used. It was clear— she didn't cook, or she just didn't know how to. I didn't ask.

I went along with it. Smiled and stood back as Shifa did all the work. She was moving around too much and picking up stuff we won't need for cooking, I had to control myself from stopping her when she started inspecting a large pack of noodles. She placed two packs in the cart. She reminded me a lot of my little brother or just little kids in general. Why I wasn't sure, but she was so different than me and she was of my age— I had never seen girls our age so— different, yes, I watched movies, but never did I think that a cousin of Wahab's would be similar to those rotten lady characters in the movies. And she was. In so many ways she was free and wanted to eat noodles when she had me there to cook. I said nothing but I found it offensive— she only took the packs of snacks and not vegetables or any other ingredients. What did she think I meant when I said groceries?

"Ah, Shifa?"

She turned, a pack of potato chips in her hands and a smile on her face, she answered, "Yes? Do you need anything else? Maybe another flavour?"

Of course, she thought I was talking about the flavour of chips. I shook my head and for some strange reason, I couldn't keep my smile to myself, "Let's buy some vegetables now, alright?"

She had a dumbstruck look on her face but religiously placed the pack of chips back on the shelf and nodded, moving the cart around me and walked toward the direction of fresh vegetables. The grocery was bought, and she refused to let me pay for them her reason lame and laughable.

'I eat a lot. Most of these are going to end up in my tummy, anyways.'

She laughed after saying that and I tried hard not to let her contagious laugh catch up to me.